Timberwolves forward Mark Madsen said McHale will be missed.
“Kevin McHale is a great coach,” Madsen told The Associated Press in a phone interview from Salt Lake City. “I’m a little bit surprised by this news and I was hoping to play for him next season and I guess that’s not going to happen now.”
“I have the deepest respect for Kevin McHale and his many accomplishments as a player, basketball executive and basketball coach — especially those that have occurred in the State of Minnesota,” said Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations David Kahn. “Under Kevin’s leadership, the Timberwolves reached the Western Conference Finals once and were a perennial playoff team for a number of years.
“I did not know Kevin McHale until I took this job and can tell you that he is an even better person than most understand. He is warm, bright, upbeat and relentlessly optimistic. He cares about making players the best they can be. Because of those qualities, I thought long and hard with him about whether we could create an environment where he and the team could succeed next season with him as head coach.
“We will have a team in transition for the next few years as we build through the draft, trades and free agency. Because of the changes that have already occurred and are likely forthcoming, I believed it would have been difficult for everybody involved to put Kevin in this position.
“I hope people will join me in recognizing the many successes Kevin had in building the Timberwolves.”
Jefferson said McHale phoned him with the news Tuesday night.
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